Team HRC seeks a turnaround after a tough Friday at Imola

A challenging Friday for Team HRC at the Imola circuit in Italy, as it prepares for the races making up round seven of the 2023 Superbike World Championship. A track that is technical and new to both riders coupled with extreme weather conditions only made things harder, but the team is ready to put in the work this evening in order to maximise the setup of the bike.

Lecuona and Vierge set to work during the first free practice session, which got started at 10.30am local time. With neither rider having visited the Imola circuit until now, the Team HRC duo focused on building confidence around what is a rather challenging track. Both were able to make progress already during the first practice, with Vierge setting a best of a 1’49.266 and Lecuona a 1’49.286. With these references, the factory riders placed fourteenth and fifteenth at the session’s end.

Heading into the afternoon’s session, both Lecuona and Vierge were keen to improve on their FP1 performance. In hotter conditions (air temp. 32°C, track temp 52°C), the factory riders worked hard with their respective technicians to adapt the set-up of their CBR1000RR-R machines to the Italian track. The session was interrupted with a red flag on three occasions following crashes for other riders, but this did not prevent Team HRC from making the most of the track time and shaving precious tenths of their earlier references. Vierge’s fastest time was a 1.48’749 with which he positioned fifteenth overall, while team-mate Lecuona placed seventeenth with a best of 1’48.907.

With the weather expected to remain hot but stable over the rest of the weekend, and with some setup adjustments in the pipeline, Team HRC plans to try and reduce the gap to the front prior to tomorrow’s Superpole qualifying phase and the first of the weekend’s three races.

Full results   *Courtesy of  WorldSBK.com